Could Brad Penny help the Astros

Boston Red Sox pitcher Brad Penny - pardon me, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Brad Penny has been released.

"I had some bad breaks and made some bad pitches. But I'm healthy, and that's what I'm happy about. This isn't last year, when I was hurt. If that had been the case, I'd be upset. All in all I had a great time here. My shoulder is healthy and I'm glad I came here. It was a blessing."

Could the Astros use him? Well, maybe. I would imagine there are three spots locked up in the rotation next year: Roy, Wandy, and The Troof (Bud Norris, for you newbies). There's a mutual option for Brian Moehler in 2010, and Yorman Bazardo figures to be in the mix, but if the Astros can sign Brad Penny (who signed a one-year $5 million deal). That leaves at least one spot available.

Penny, though, doesn't come without baggage. After leaving LA, Larry Bowa said:
"You mean the same guy who was never on time, out of shape and has one complete game? He has more stuff to worry about in the A.L. East than me. He has to worry about getting people out. He was never on time, was out of shape and never helped the kids out. Put that on the (expletive) dot-com. Put it in the headline. He never watched the game (when he was on the DL). Jason Schmidt watched the games. Nomar Garciaparra watched the games. Mark Sweeney watched the games. You go right down the line, everybody who was on the DL watched the games. But not him. He was out of there."

It's been since 2007 that the 31-year old Penny's ERA was under 5.50, and Houston isn't exactly known as a place for pitchers to reclaim their career, but if Easy Eddie is in the habit of taking fliers on veteran injured pitchers, Penny might work out. He's only pitched 226.1IP since 2007, and he says his shoulder feels fine. Buster Olney says the best place for him is Colorado, where he could take advantage of a chance to screw the Dodgers. What say you?